Screenwriters Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs have been hired by Sony to pen a female-led spinoff of the "21 Jump Street" action-comedy franchise, The Times has confirmed. The Tracking Board first reported the news.

Aniello and Downs are best known for working on the zeitgeisty Comedy Central series "Broad City," which chronicles the misadventures of two twentysomething BFFs (show creators Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer) in New York City.

Given that show's sharp, irreverent sense of humor, Aniello and Downs should be on solid footing to enter and expand the "Jump Street" universe, the first two installments of which combined to gross more than $530 million at the worldwide box office. ("23 Jump Street" is also in the works, with Rodney Rothman writing the script.)

Plot details have yet to be revealed for Aniello and Downs' spinoff, but it would presumably follow the Tatum-Hill blueprint in which a pair of humorously inept cops go undercover.

Sony has been looking to shore up its film franchises of late to keep up with rivals like Disney and Warner Bros. The studio is also working on a female-led "Ghostbusters" reboot that will kick off a new shared universe of films; it will open in July 2016.

Director Paul Feig's "Ghostbusters" reboot has found its leading ladies. Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon are in talks to star in the Sony comedy about a quartet of paranormal exterminators, The Times has confirmed.